CME Reports Better-Than-Expected Q4, Record Daily Volume

CME Group Inc CME reported its fourth quarter results on Friday. The company said that it earned $0.92 per share in the quarter on revenue of $814 million. CME Group's stock showed no trades early Friday morning. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.90 per share on revenue of $810.8 million. Net income for the quarter fell to $291.7 million from $306.5 million in the same quarter a year ago but when adjusted for non-recurring items, net income would have been $311 million. CME Group noted that its total average daily volume reached a record 14.0 million contracts in 2015 and saw annual records in energy, agricultural commodities, total options and electronic options. "In 2015, we reached record levels of volume and revenue as we enabled our increasing number of customers around the world to manage risk," said CME Group Executive Chairman and President Terry Duffy. "We saw year-over-year revenue growth in five of our six product lines, with particular strength in energy and agricultural products as well as our overall options business. Continuing this momentum, we had record monthly volume in January 2016, with more than 18 million contracts per day traded, up 16 percent. Given the underlying strength of our business, we announced a 20 percent increase in our next regular quarterly dividend to 60 cents per share. In each of the prior four years, our total dividend yield has exceeded five percent."